


Side

by kyuh014



Category: Aldnoah.Zero (Anime)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 06:27:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3967891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyuh014/pseuds/kyuh014
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post end.<br/>They don't particularly like each other, but stuff happens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Side

**Author's Note:**

> OK, so, formatting was a nightmare... this is my second time posting this because I was just not satisfied with how it looked, I kinda still don't feel 100% happy about the format. But, oh well.  
> On with the story.   
> I suck at summaries.  
> Healing fic. 
> 
> I haven't written in a very very long time, hopefully you'll enjoy it.  
> I really hope characters aren't too occ.

Inaho stared at the necklace. He was lying on his bed with the necklace in hands. He used to hold Slaine necklace like this. But this was the necklace that the princess – or empress – gave to him.  
He stared at it with… melancholy; that was probably the right word. Inaho really didn’t understand the feeling inside of him when he stared at it. He felt conflicted; he felt sadness, confusion, yearning, and finally, anger.  
It confused him. 

“You gave me a very difficult job, you know?” He said to the necklace while playing with it with his fingers.  
When his Engine was still active he could repeat the scene in which Seylum asked him to take care of Slaine.  
Save him from the chains of misery, she said. What she meant by that exactly, he didn’t know. He just knew he had to maintain Slaine not miserable, whatever that meant. 

He didn’t hate Slaine, but he didn’t precisely like him either. He was an obligation, an imposed one at that and it was very obvious Slaine didn’t like him, which made everything so much more difficult. Inaho, however, could understand why he would be disliked in this situation and he didn’t blame Slaine for doing so. 

He was going to keep taking care of Slaine, that was a given, but he didn’t know how he was going to be able to handle it. Slaine was so hard to understand.  
He was very different to what he had imagined. He only saw him as a Count before, as a leader, strong and charismatic, leading the war… winning the war, even. 

He had such a hard time seeing his enemy and this boy as the same person. 

The fact that he couldn’t understand him fueled his curiosity. It also made him loose his patience. Slaine made him loose his composure. He didn’t like that. 

Since the beginning Slaine seemed really resigned to his fate. He didn’t put up that much of a fight, and he took all the blame that the higher ups were pinning on him. 

He didn’t refute anything, not even the assassination attempt. Was he in on it also? Inaho didn’t think so, But Saazbaum was his father, he could have known. He looked guilty of something; that much was true. 

Nothing really made sense. He wasn’t a part of the nobility when the war started, but he also rose to power too quickly. 

He also managed to dodge the whole decoy subject. 

Even Seylum herself said that she was the one that gave all those messages, that she was engaged to Count Saazbaum Troyard; but that she decided to break the engagement the moment she realized he was behind everything and that she had a another choice, as Empress of Vers with Count Cruhteo. 

It didn’t make any sense, but it ended the war, so people didn’t question it. 

_What is it that you’re hiding?_

He cried. He could still remember that. 

_Did you wanted to die that much?_  
_Do you hate me for not killing you?_  
_I will keep you alive, even if you hate me, because I made that promise to her._

Inaho kept thinking, he somehow regretted something about that day.  
When he left, he felt uneasy. But he really didn’t know why. 

_Do I feel guilty?_

He stared at the necklace again and brought it close to his lips. 

_Should I hate you for doing this to me?_

* * *

It was a visit day today. He normally went every Monday, Wednesday, and sometimes on a Friday. Only on one occasion he went on a weekend: when the Empress activated the Hypergate. 

He didn’t want to remember that day, he went inside. He told his sister to wait for him. 

Inaho entered the cell. Would Slaine play today? 

“You’re behaving better, I’ve been informed” he said.

Slaine moved a piece. He didn’t speak. 

“Guards are also speaking better about you; you are really charismatic you know?” That much was true. At first, guards disliked him and treated him as cold as possible. As time went by though, they seemed to treat him a lot more kindly. They had patience towards him. They even exchanged greetings sometimes. This change was more noticeable with female guards. 

Slaine kept playing, but he didn’t spoke. He was fidgety. Every time he made a move he pretended to think about it, but Inaho could tell by how quickly he was defeated that he really wasn’t paying attention. 

This was going nowhere, as always. Was Slaine better? Was he worse? Inaho was tired. Slaine had this quality; he was apparently the only person that was able to disrupt him, to mess with him. Everyone else he could analyze, he could understand.  
But not Slaine, never Slaine.  
It made him loose composure and it made him mad. It made him tired. His head started to hurt. 

He stood up. 

Slaine reacted. 

“Will you come next Sunday?” Slaine asked while looking at him, he had a face Inaho could not decipher. 

“I don’t know” Inaho answered. He wanted to see Slaine’s reaction. From his reaction he could maybe understand what was going on.

But Slaine only lowered his head, like he was carefully choosing what to say next. What he was thinking, Inaho couldn’t tell.

_Why so sudden? What is happening?_ Inaho was confused and at this point he was too tired to try and understand. 

“Do you want me to come?” Inaho finally said. He expected Slaine to dodge the question, because this was Slaine.

“Yes” Slaine said raising his head, turning it to the side, avoiding eye contact. 

_I give up; I don’t understand you and probably never will, Slaine Troyard._

“Fine, I’ll come” 

“You don’t have plans?” Slaine asked. There seemed to be genuine curiosity in his question.

“I already said I’ll come, I wouldn’t have said that if I had plans.” Now Inaho was really confused. A conversation like this was very surreal. 

Slaine’s reaction was not exactly happiness, but it felt like he relaxed his whole body. Inaho kept waiting for Slaine to say something more, but he didn’t. So he walked towards the door. 

He kept replaying the conversation in his head as he left the house.  
Slaine didn’t usually talk much, what he did say however, always had a meaning. What it meant this time, he didn’t know. He would find out next Sunday though.

He definitely would.

* * *

Inaho left. 

Slaine was left alone again. He felt… heavy. 

Asking that was not easy and he was pretty sure Inaho was going to figure the reason, had he not done that already. 

_He didn’t have plans though, does he not know? Is that possible?_

He really didn’t care where Inaho was, or what his plans were, but he didn’t want to be left alone that day. 

The guards were nicer, Inaho was right about that. At first he was treated with contempt, but now guards were at least cordial. They didn’t talk to him, however. Inaho was the only one that had actual conversations with him, or that tried. 

Slaine didn’t really hate Inaho at this point. He didn’t have enough energy or drive to hate anyone. But he didn’t felt like he liked him. He didn’t feel entirely indifferent about him either, but he guessed that was normal given their history. 

_Well, that’s obvious, he’s the one that…_

A guard arrived for him. 

“Should we go, Troyard?” a female guard said with a smile. 

He stood up. The guard took him to his cell. 

It wasn’t really a cell, not a prison-like cell at least. While he was in the basement and the walls were pure stone, he had a row of horizontal windows at the very top of the wall.  
It allowed sunshine to come in. That in itself was a blessing. He could also see the birds and the stars, while lying on his bed. 

The guard left him alone “see you tomorrow Mr. Troyard” she said as she left. 

He entered the cell. He breathed in. 

He wondered how long would the pain last. 

_I did this to myself._  
_This, at least is my fault, and my responsibility. Me being here isn’t your fault Orange, you feeling responsible for me is not what I need. I can accept what I did._  
_Should I forgive you for not killing me? For everything else you did? For telling me that you’re keeping me alive because of her?_  
_For making me remind her every time that you try to be nice?_  
_Maybe I should forgive you…_  
_You did give me a chance to make her dream come true._

_I guess we both did everything for her…_  
_And we keep doing it._

_I wonder if I ever had a dream of my own._  
_Not that it matters anymore._

He sat beside a bookcase. He had a bookcase inside the cell which had his favorite books. There were more at his disposal at the library upstairs. But he was allowed to keep his favorite ones with him.  
Most of them were about biology and nature. 

He could have been a good teacher. He remembered how he taught both his Highness and Eddelrittuo. The memory of little Eddelrittuo being engrossed in his teachings made him smile. Both of them waiting for the Princess to wake up while having that moment. 

Was he happy when he was living as a Count?

_Stupid pain._

_Think._  
_I did this to myself._  
_I’m sorry I did this to you. To both my fathers._  
_I’m to blame._  
_Everything is better this way._  
_I gave her everything she wanted._  
_She’s happy._  
_With this I pay for my crimes and I get to make her happy._  
_I should not feel like it was a waste._

He looked at the calendar right next to his bed. 

_Why would they give me that? What difference does it make if I know what day it is?_

Next week.  
He wondered if he was going to hear fireworks again, the sound of happiness, people and music, all that.

_I hope Inaho comes._  
_How sad of me, to yearn for his company._

He felt disgusted…  
And angry…  
And impotent…

He got up and grabbed a book. This one was about the plants of Europe. He liked it. 

He pressed the little button which called the guards. 

“What is it Mr. Troyard?” This time it was a male guard, Slaine guessed it was a new shift already. So, it was probably 4 in the afternoon. There was still a lot of time of sunlight. 

“I want to go to the garden to read, would that be possible?” he asked as politely as he could. 

“But of course”

The guard opened the door. He guided Slaine outside, to the garden. 

He sat on his favorite spot: an old metallic rocking chair that faced the garden. He let himself rest. 

He sat there while listening to the guards chatting.

He wasn’t really reading, he just wanted to hear other people. He pretended to read as he heard the guards laughing and having a good time. 

_They are happy. They have peace. Everyone is better._   
_You are happy._  
_I am here._  
_I did it for you._

Then the birds, he saw birds.

_It’s like they’re mocking me._

He was starting to regret his decision.

**Author's Note:**

> I shipped Dorito/Slaine.  
> That ship sunk, everything sunk...  
> Thanks Aoki.
> 
> This turned out very short, I'll strive for longer chapters.  
> Again, hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
